My trials, tribulation and progress in designing and building a handcycle, at home, out of carbon fiber.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Finished Front Fork Views

The front fork is finished -- well almost. I still have to cutout the dropouts on the added layers and re-drill the holes for the disc brakes. Otherwise...

The front fork has the two finish coats of West Systems epoxy over the many layers of carbon fiber. To this, I added four final coats of a polyurethane (with UV protection). There was a lot of sanding in between all but the final coats of polyurethane. While the end result is not perfect, I am relatively pleased with the look. Daylight may change my mind!

(There are black covers over the headsets in order that they did not received the urethane.)

I personally do not mind seeing the interweaving of various layers and direction of carbon fiber. This is the way that the carbon fiber is laid up -- intermixing the direction of carbon fiber's grain through various layers.

Left Side of Fork

Right Side of Fork -- Displaying Chainline and Idler

The following picture -- from the rear of the fork -- is somewhat distorted due to the closeup of the camera. Notwithstanding, the picture does give an indication of the thickness of the fork down to the dropouts.